Bag holding mechanism for bagging machine



I United States Patent [72] Invent r A nerJ-Troy r 2,285,279 6/1942 Hohletal. I'M/315x smlthvillmohl 2,376,810 5/1945 Richardson 141/314X [21] Appl.No. 705,804 2,758,765 8/1956 Hopkins etal 14l/3l7X [221 Filed 2 32? FOREIGN PATENTS [45] Patented Nov.l l [73] Assign TroyuManufacmring Company 986,914 3/1965 GreatBrrtam 141/314 Smithville, Ohio Primary Examiner- Laverne D. Geiger a corporation of Ohio Assistant Examiner- Edward J. Earls [54] BAG HOLDING MECHANISM FOR BAGGING [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,126,163 8/1938 Youngetal.

Attorney- Hamilton. Cook. Renner and Kenner ABSTRACT: A releasable mechanism for holding bags in open position on a machine which dispenses weighed amounts of articles of produce such as potatoes into the bags, including a pair of lever arms normally held by gravity in abutment with opposite sides of a bag holding frame and selectively urged into tight gripping abutment with a bag on said frame by fluid power means selectively releasable by the operator to drop the loaded bag.

Patented Nov. 17; 1970 3,540,497

Sheet 2 of 5 I NVEN TOR.

2 ABNER J. TRLER www ATTORNEYS Sheet Q of 5 57 INVENTOR ABNER J. TROYER ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 5 QfS Sheet INVENTOR. ABNER' J. TRO ER ATTORNEYS -pivoted on opposite sides 1 BAG HOLDING MECHANISM FOR BAGGING MACHINE BACKGROUNDOF THE INVENTION Prior rotating bagging machines have had bag holding means for automatically releasing the bags as they reached a predetermined unloading station, but this system requires that the operator be ready to handle the loaded but unclosed bag at the instant it reaches the unloading station, and if anything happens to delay him the contents of the bag are spilled. Other prior machines have provided means for holding the bags by gravity and selectively releasing them by fluid power means. The gravity-actuated holding means has the advantage of allowing easy placing of the bag in open position around its holdingframe, but certain bag materials such as plastic film tend to slide out from the holding means when the bag is' SUMMARY OF THElNVENTlON lt is an object of the presentinvention to provide an improved bag holding mechanism for overcoming the disadvantagesof prior constructions.

A more specific object is to provide a bag holding mechanism which will allow placing the bag in open position and'holding it by gravity until power means is selectively actuated to positively hold it and then to release it at the will of the operator after the bag is loaded. 7

These and other objects are accomplished by the present improved mechanism comprising bag holding lever arms of a bag holding frame in such manner that the arms normally have their ends held by gravity in abutment with the frame and are connected by a lost motion linkage to the double-acting piston of a fluid pressure I cylinder. the neutral position of said piston allowing limited movement of the ends of the arms away from gravitational abutment with said frame.

DESCRlPTlON OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a rotary bagging machine embodying a circumferential series of the improved bag holding mechanisms at the discharge ends of dispensing and its actuating fluid pressure cylinder with'the piston in neutral position.

FIG. 5 is a similar view with the piston in bag holding position.

FIG. 6 is a similar view with the piston'in bag releasing position.

FIG. 7 is a wiring diagram of the bag holding and releasing electrical circuit.

DESCRlPTlON OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the rotary bagging machine illustrated has a rotatable cone 10 at the top for receiving the articles of produce to be weighed and'bagged, and the vertical cylindrical wall '11 which surrounds the cone is also rotatable but in the opposite direction to the rotation of the cone. The variable drive motors 12 and I3, one for rotating the cone and one for rotating the cylindrical wall; are operatively connected to the cone and wall in a suitable and well-known manner, not shown.

As the produce articles are carried around on the outer periphery of the cone they pass a series of openings M in the a wall 11, the tops of the openings having spaced helical springs 15 to yieldingly restrain articles while permitting visual inspection of the height to'which they are piled. The lower parts of the openings 14 are selectively opened and closed by vertically slidable gates 16, which when open'allow the articles to.

pass into the discharge chutes 17 having flexible closure flaps 18 at their outer ends. The flaps'are shown overlapping in H0.

1 and spread apart with their inner edges adjacent in H6. 2.

The size of the gate openings is adjustable by means of laterally slidable plates 20 adjustably mounted on the GXlClQ-f sure wall 11 by bolt and slot connections 22. One wall 23 of each chute is laterally adjustable on the bottom wall Z4'olP-thc;

chute and the overlapping flaps l8 allow for this adjustment. The variable motor drives provide for a wide flexibility-inadjusting the relative speeds of the cone andcnclosure wall to vary the rate at which the articles are discharged in correlation to the adjustment of the discharge openings and chute widths.

As best shown in H0. 3, the chutes are each vertically movable or floating with respect to the enclosure wall ll. The

sidewalls l7 and 23 are carried on the bottom wall 24, and the bottom wall is supported on a bracket 26, the lower end of which straddles a pad 27 and carries the ends of balance beams 28 for operating the weighing scale 29. The pad 27 has a vertically depending rod 25 which is pivotally connected at its bottom end to a cross link (not shown) which is pivoted at its other end to a vertical rod connecting to the opposite ends of the balance beams in a usual manner. The scale is supported on a horizontal plate 30 carried on a bracket 31 which is mounted on the frame 32 carrying the enclosure wall 11.

The balance scales are each'provided with a series of '5;

weights 33, 34 (FIG. 1) for adjusting the scales to weigh different standard amounts of bagged articles. The bags are releasably clamped around the depending extensions 17 and 23' of the side walls 17 and 23, the extensions having angular rear, flanges 17a and 23a, respectively. A control rod 35 attached to one of the balance beams 28 extends into the scale 29 for actuating the indicator 36 to show when the desired predetermined weight is reached. The relative movement of the rod due to the weight of the loaded bag actuates a micro switch (not shown) within the scale housing to operate a solenoid valve 37 controlling the flow of pressure fluid to cylinder 38 (FlG. 2) to-cause the single-acting piston therein to lower described are well-known and per so do not constitute part of the present invention.

The construction and operation of the improved mechanism for releasably holding the bags in open position at the v discharge ends ofthe chutes will now be described.

A bag B having its open mouth held in position around the chute wall extensions 17' and 23 is indicated in chain lines-in HO. 2 and in cross section in H6. 5. The mechanism for releasably holding the bag mouth comprises a pair of lcvcr arms 44, one for abutting extension 'wall 17' and one for abutting extension wall 23.

The arms 44 are pivoted intermediate theirends by pins 45 on the lowerends of L-shaped brackets 46 secured atthcir upper ends by screws 47 to the'extension walls 17' and 23'. Each bracket is preferably U-shaped in cross section having a web wall 48 connecting front andrear-walls 49 and-50; the pivot pins being mounted at their endsin walls 49and S0; A

guard rod 18a may be mounted in one or both of said brackets said wallssfhe outer ends of arms 44 are provided with adjustable stop bolts 52 with lock nuts53 thereon for holding the bolts in adjusted position. The bolts 52 are adapted to abut lost motion links 54 to swing the arms 44 to bag releasing position.

The mechanism for actuating the arms 44 is identical on opposite sides of-the discharge chute, so only one mechanism is shown and described. Each lost motion link 54 comprises a web flange 55 having an car 56 extending angularly from one end and journaled on pivot pin 45, and a smaller ear 57 extending angularly from its other end. Ear 57 is pivoted at 58 on the connector piece 59 which is screwed onto the shaft 60 of a double-acting piston 61 within fluid cylinder 62. The opposite end of cylinder 62 has an angular car 63 pivoted at 64a on wall 50 of bracket 46. Conduits 64 and 65 supply pressure fluid,

preferably compressed air, to opposite ends of the cylinder.

As shown in FIG. 4, a coil spring 66 is provided between the piston and the lower end of the cylinder for holding the piston in a neutral position when the cylinder has only atmospheric pressure on both sides of the piston. When the piston 61 is supported by spring 66 in neutral position, the lower edge of car 57 of link 54 is slightly spaced from the head of stop bolt 52, and the front edge 67 of web flange 55 is spaced above the lever arm 44. Consequently, the pad 51 on the inner end of the arm can be manually raised as indicated by the chain line position in FIG. 4,

This feature is important because it enables the operator to place the mouth ofa bag 8 around the lower ends ofextension walls 17' and 23' by manually raising the inner ends of arms 44 and then allowing the arms to drop by gravity and the pads to engage the bag mouth, whereupon the operator can release his hold on thebag because the weight of the inner ends of the arms is sufficient to hold the empty bag in place. Otherwise, it would be necessary for the operator to energize piston 61 to the upper position of FIG. to hold the bag before releasing the hold of his lingers thereon.

When pressure fluid is introduced through conduit 65 and exhausted through conduit 64 to hold the piston in its upper position, as indicated in FIG. 5, the lost motion link 54 is rotated counterclockwise and its front edge 67 engages and positively holds the pad 51 against the bag mouth, clamping it against the chute wall 23 with enough force to support the bag when full of articles of produce. The same thing occurs simultaneously on the opposite side of the bag to clamp it against ehutc'wall 17. Obviously, enough pressure is provided to hold the largest bagful ofa desired range of sizes.

When the flow of pressure fluid to cylinder 62 is reversed, the link 54 .is rotated clockwise and car 57 engages the stop bolt 52 to raise the pad 5] to the bag releasing position of FIG. 6. When the fluid is exhausted from both ends of the cylinder 62, the spring 66 raises the piston to the neutral position of FIG. 4 in readiness for placing another empty bag in position.

In the operation of the improved bag holding mechanism, assuming that the pistons actuating the bag holding arms 44 at a particular discharge chute are in neutral position, the operator pulls the mouth of an empty bag upwardly around the lower ends of the chute walls, manually raising the arms as he does so to allow insertion of the bag under the holding pads 51, and releases his hold on the bag when the pads drop by gravity to engage the bag. During this time, the gate 16 is closed to prevent articles within the enclosure wall 11 from rolling into thechute. At the desired moment, the operator energizes the pistons 61 to positively hold the bag and simultaneously energizes the gate opening mechanism.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the starting switch for this operation may be located conveniently adjacent to the chute being operated, and the switch is shown mounted on enclosure wall 11 at 70 and may have an operating handle 71.

Referring to FIG. 7, switch 70 is indicated diagrammatically and has normally open contacts. When the switch is closed a circuit is closed through conductors 74 and 75 to supply lines 76 and 77 and through the coils (in parallel) of relays A and B, causing both relays to operate. The relays are held closed by a separate electric circuit (not shown) in a well-known manner.

When relayA operates. it closes normally-open contacts 78 and 79 and closes the circuit through conductors 80 and 8] to solenoid 37 which actuates the piston in cylinder 38 through air supply line 82 to lower the gate 16 to open position.

The simultaneous operation of relay B closes the normallyopen contacts 83 and 84, completing the circuit through conductors 85 and .86 to one solenoid of a four-way solenoidoperated air valve 87 of well-known construction to supply air under pressure through conduits 65 to the lower ends of cylinders 62, retracting the pistons therein to the position shown in FIG. 5 to positively grip the bag. When the bag is filled to the" desired weight, the microswitch in the scale is actuated by movement of rod 35 to release relay A, opening contacts 78' completes a circuit through conductor 89 and the coil of relay C, which trips the mechanical catch and opens relay B, deenergizing the previously energized solenoid in four-way valve 87 and exhausting air from cylinders 62 through conduits 65. Simultaneously, conductors 89 and 90 complete the circuit to a second solenoid in four-way valve 87, causing air under pressure to be supplied through conduits 64 to extend the pistons in cylinders 65 to the position shown in FIG. 6 and release the bag.

When the foot pedal 'switch 88 is released, the circuit to the second solenoid in four-way valve 87 is broken, allowing air to exhaust through conduits 64 and the pistons to return to their neutral position against springs 66, as shown in FIG. 4, in readiness for inserting another empty bag.

The improved bag holding mechanism provides an economical and efficient construction and arrangement for accomplishing the purposes of the invention, and more particularly provides for the easy manual placement and gravitational holding of the empty bags with selective positive gripping and'release of the loaded bags.

lclaim:

l. Bag holding mechanism for a bagging machine having a discharge chute with opposed walls, lever arms pivotally mounted one adjacent to each said wall and having their inner ends normally urged by gravity into abutment therewith, power means connected to said arms and having a neutral position, said power means being selectively operable to urge said arm inner ends against and away from said walls, and said power means in neutral position adapted to permit the arm inner ends to gravitationally abut said walls and manually to be moved away from said walls.

2. Bagholding mechanism as defined in claim 1, in which the power means are connected to the lever arms by lost motion links.

3. Bag holding mechanism as by a power means, and said power means is operatively connected to the arm operating power means to simultaneously open said gate when the arm inner ends are urged against the chute walls by said arm operating power means.

7. Bag holding mechanism as defined in claim 6, in which the arm operating power means are connected to the lever arms by lost motion links.

defined in claim I, in which the power means are fluid pressure cylinders operating pistons. from retracted to extended positions for selectively urging the cally controlled 8. Bag holding mechanism as defined in claim 6, in which fluid pressure cylinders operating pistons. all of said power means being electrically connected to simulthe arm operating power means are connected to the lever arms by lost motion links.

10. Bag holding mechanism as defined in claim 8, in which the power means for operating the gate is operable to close the taneously open the gate when the arm inner ends are urged 5 gate independently of the arm operating power means.

against the chute walls.

9. Bag helding mechanism as defined in claim 8, in which 

